From a European comparative perspective, the book addresses a broad range of contested issues. Can political trust be conceived as a one-dimensional concept, and to what extent do international population surveys warrant the culturally equivalent measurement of political trust across European societies? Is there indeed an observable general trend of declining levels of political trust? What are the individual, societal and political prerequisites of political trust and how do they translate into trustful attitudes? Why do so many Eastern European citizens still distrust their political...